RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Harrison Mew was sentenced at Circuit Court yesterday for violating the sex offender registry law. Mew, who is known as the Kahala Panty Burglar and was convicted of stealing panties, received a suspended one-year prison term, five years' probation and was fined $2,500.

Panty Burglar sentenced for snafu

Harrison Mew gets probation because of an omission in his offender registration

The man who became known as the Kahala Panty Burglar in the 1980s received a suspended one-year prison term and five years' probation, and was fined $2,500 yesterday for failing to include a vehicle on his sex offender registration.

Harrison Mew, 55, pleaded no contest last November to failing to comply with sex offender registry requirements. In court yesterday he said he is embarrassed that he took things for granted.

"As a result of what has happened, from here on I will make sure to dot all of my i's and cross all of my t's," Mew said.

State law requires convicted sex offenders to include the "year, make, model, color and license number of all vehicles currently owned or operated by the sex offender." Mew's attorney Todd Eddins said his client listed a pickup truck he owns but did not list a car he drives that is owned by someone else.

The state asked Circuit Court Judge Richard Perkins to sentence Mew to 10 years in prison, double the maximum prison sentence.

Mew became known as the Kahala Panty Burglar after he was arrested following a string of burglaries in the Kahala area in which women's panties were stolen.

He was convicted in 1983 for burglary, attempted burglary and attempted trespass and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 1999, Mew pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to five years' probation. That conviction required him to register as a convicted sex offender.

Last year, Honolulu police arrested Mew and searched his business after a woman reported he sexually assaulted her in his office. He was not charged with any crimes because of possible consent issues, Puu said.

She said the registration violation was discovered during the investigation for the alleged sexual assault.